Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Ultimate Underdogs | Ep. 434 | Thursday, October 3, 2024

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

God specializes in overcoming overwhelming odds. God transformed Gideon from a shy farmer into a mighty warrior, preparing him to lead a ragtag team of 300 Israelites in defending and liberating God��s people from the Midianites, who were the dominant military force in the region then. Today, trust and embrace His power for strength and endurance even when journeying through unfamiliar seasons. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.combe.com slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what is up? Hope your day is going well, whether you're just getting up or you're head at the school or work or to the gym or you're wrapping up the day or somewhere in between. Thanks for joining us here on the Daily Drive podcast. My name is Bro, and we've been kind of

binge watching a great underdog story that's found in Judges chapter 6 of the Old Testament section of the Bible. And we are on episode four. If you miss the first three, you might go back and catch up. But it opens with Gideon, this shy farmer who God calls a mighty warrior, he's getting this rag-tag remnant of an army together. Now we're talking skinny, hungry, cave-dwelling dudes with inferior strength, inferior training, inferior weapons, not a chance of defeating the mighty Midianites. Kind of makes me think of that scene from the movie Braveheart. We're on one side you've got this sophisticated military power with skilled archers and catapults

and thousands of horses. They're wearing matching uniforms. And then on the other side, you got these farmers with peasant. pitchforks and axes and shovels and their faces are painted blue and they're wearing wool-plad skirts. And I bet Gideon looked around and had one of those, wow, wow. So this is my dream team. We're going to get smashed. But God takes a look at Gideon's mighty, fighting men. And he says, you got too many warriors with you. Gideon says, what? Too many? Are you kidding me? Look at them. Lord, Lord, we're going to get creamed the way it is.

is. Too many? And God comes back with, no, I'm not kidding. Here's the deal. Even though the odds are stacked against you, they will win. And when they win, they will start boasting about how they pulled the upset of the century. They'll be signing autographs, going on talk shows, trying to get endorsement deals. They'll be telling their grandkids, oh, you should have seen us. We were awesome. No one thought we could do it, but through our own strength, skill, and craftiness, we sent those armies running. So, Gideon, I want to remember. move that temptation. I want to show all of Israel that they can't do this on their own, that they need me. So I want you to give your guys permission to leave if they want to. You tell the 33,000 men

that you have with you, if you're not up for this, it's okay. You can leave right now. So Gideon does that. He gives them permission to leave if they want to. And guess what? 22,000 of them go home. And now the odds are really stacked against them, only about 11,000 to go up against the hundreds of thousands of the greatest military power of the region. And Gideon's got to be thinking, what are you doing to me, God? And God says, yeah, you know what? You still got too many. So here's what we're going to do, mighty warrior. I want you to bring your guys down to the water.

And I want you to tell them to get a drink. Then divide him up into the men who fall on their face and lap water like a thirsty dog. and the ones who kneel and kind of cup water with their hands so they can drink and keep watch at the same time, those are the men, those are the men you take with you into battle. Well, Gideon does so, and guess what? Over 10,000 of them lap water like a thirsty dog, and the number is now reduced to 300. Chapter 7, verse 7, the Lord says to Gideon, now we're getting somewhere. With these 300 men, I will rescue you and give you victory over the middle of the middle of you.

and the Unites, send all the others home. So Gideon collected the provisions and ramhorns of the other warriors and sent them home. But he kept the 300 men with him. Ridiculous, right? Absolutely. God specializes in the ridiculous, in the absurd, in the impossible. He loves it when the odds are stacked against him because he knows the odds never really are. And, gang, that God.

is fighting for you. That is the God walking with you today. Some of you are courageously trying to walk a new direction in your life. I want to encourage you lean into His power today. He will sustain you. He will equip you. He will empower you. Don't do this day in your own strength.

I mean, why would you when you got a God like that? I hope you have a great day. Come back tomorrow for the exciting conclusion to this story. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint. compt.church slash daily drive. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out?